Biking is the best. Bike racks populate the Indiana University campus and Bloomington as a whole, and there’s no charge for parking.
But I understand biking can be inconvenient in a number of ways. You can get sweaty going to class. It's not nearly as fast as driving. Not everyone owns a bike, or a nice one at that.
So, to help the students of IU, I found the best ways to handle parking for students, both on campus and off.
Campus parking
A student permit is the basic permit to purchase, and there are many options underneath that umbrella.
The standard student permit allows for any parking in an ST-labeled space, unless otherwise specified. It is also good for any 24-hour Campus Housing (CH) space within the time frame of 5 p.m. Friday to 11 p.m. Sunday, as well as parking garages after 5 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends.
Prices for a student permit differ, but the standard, all-year pass costs $177.48. Options are available for fall and spring semester passes for $88.76, as well as an evening pass for $88.80 or a semester evening pass for $44.28.
CH permits are the other most common permit, allowing students living on campus a place to park their cars. The permits include a CH zone, ranging from 1-7, as well as any ST spot. Zones vary in price, with zones 1, 5, 6 and 7 holding a set cost of $240.72. Zone 2 is slightly more expensive at $241.23, and zones 3 and 4 are cheaper at $210.43.
Off-campus parking
A driveway is the most convenient place to park a car. But some houses in Bloomington don’t have driveways, and certain apartment complexes don’t have places to park.
Don’t fret. Street parking is simple to obtain and very convenient for many houses.
Many Bloomington neighborhoods near the IU campus feature red and white signs stating that certain street parking is for permits only from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. Acquiring a permit for those spots is very simple, only requiring a payment and application on the City of Bloomington website.
Certain areas in Bloomington won’t have this designation, so if that’s you, don’t worry about it. But make sure you know how to parallel park on the street because those spots won’t be nearly as easy to obtain.
This article was originally published in the Housing & Living Guide, an IDS special publication.
